mutual, mutuall

[Fr. mutuel, from Lat. mutuus=mutual, lit. exchanged, from muto = to exchange; Sp. mutual; Ital. mutuo.] 1. Reciprocal, reciprocated; reciprocally give and received; interchanged; pertaining alike to both sides. "Evils arising from the mutual animosity of sects."Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., ch. xi. 2. Relating to or affecting two or more together equally; proceeding from or used by two or more together; common to two or more combined. "E'en yet our mutual arms we might employ." Pupe: Homer's Iliad, xvii. 177. Mutual is frequently, but incorrectly, used in the phrase, a mutual friend, where common should properly be used; mutual expre ing strictly a reciprocity or community of feeling or action. This use, however, is sanctioned by high authority. "It afforded him an opportunity of acknowledging, before their mutual friends, that he loved Mr. Wardle's daughter."- Dickens : Pickwick , ch. liv. mutual-contract, s. Law : An engagement entered into by two or more persons by which a reciprocal obligation is raised; the one party being to give or do, or abstain from doing something, in exchange for something given or done, or abstained from by the other party. mutual-debts, s. pl. Law : Money due on both sides between two per sons. ( Black stone .) [SET-OFF.]